Following meetings with Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk and Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Jean Lemierre said the bank would continue to support Slovenia in processes involving the state's withdrawal from the economy and financially back projects in fields where the EBRD can use its experience and know-how to add value. Rupel meanwhile expressed support for the new EBRD strategy on expanding activities in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe.
In this issue we also write about two important steps for the Slovenian minority living abroad. While in Italy the regional parliament of the Autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia passed a bill protecting the Slovenian minority, in Ljubljana the SLOMAK coordinating body of the Slovenian minorities in Austria, Hungary, Italy and Croatia held on 26 October its first all-minority assembly.
The SLOMAK coordinating body of the Slovenian minorities in Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia held its first all-minority assembly on Friday in Ljubljana at which participants agreed that SLOMAK had done a lot in the first four years since its establishment in January 2004. More »
The Slovenian-run International Trust Fund For Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF) and Colombia signed on Tuesday a memorandum on cooperation in demining. The cooperation will include rehabilitation of mine victims, expert training and social reintegration programmes for mine victims, the ITF said on Tuesday. More »
Austrian Ambassador to Slovenia Valentin Inzko presented in Ljubljana on Thursday a project entitled Weeks of Cross-Border Cooperation, which is to take place between 4 and 15 November on various locations in Slovenia and Austria. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel presented the priorities of Slovenia's EU presidency as he held talks on Tuesday with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey in Bern. Switzerland expects that as the presiding country Slovenia will speed up certain procedures, especially as regards the Schengen no-border zone, Rupel said. More »
The regional parliament of the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia has passed a bill protecting the Slovenian minority which many view as the final step to implementing state legislation passed on the matter in 2001. More »
The government on Thursday labelled as unnecessary the opposition-crafted motion that envisages stiffer penalties for the incitement of hatred and intolerance as well as a prison sentence for Holocaust denial. More »
The chairman of the EU Military Committee, General Henri Bentegeat, discussed the participation of the Slovenian army in EU missions as he met in Ljubljana on Monday Slovenian Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Albin Gutman. More »
The government on Thursday changed the privatisation programme for Slovenia's no. 2 bank, NKBM, to incentivise retail investors to take part in the first part of the privatisation - an initial public offering involving 49% of the share capital. More »
Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak told the press after a meeting with his Macedonian counterpart Vera Rafajlovska on Monday that Slovenia and Macedonia should increase cooperation in a number of fields. More »
Agricultural Minister Iztok Jarc wrapped up on Wednesday a working visit to Luxembourg, where he discussed with his counterpart Fernand Boden Slovenia's priorities for the agricultural sector during its stint at the helm of the EU in the first half of 2008. More »
The president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Jean Lemierre concluded a two-day visit to Slovenia on Friday. Following meetings with Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk and Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, Lemierre expressed a wish for close cooperation and offered the EBRD's support during Slovenia's upcoming EU presidency. More »
The government has proposed tougher fines for traffic violations that have been the main cause of the worst road accidents in a bid to curb road deaths. Interior Minister Dragutin Mate explained on Thursday that amendments to the road safety act were just a short-term measure until the government put forward a more comprehensive motion. More »
Sezana, a town in southwestern Slovenia which serves as the last rail interchange before the Italian border, is to become home to a European distribution centre. A letter of intent for the project, which some estimates value at EUR 80m, was signed on Thursday by government and local officials as well as the operator of the sole Slovenian commercial port. More »
A revised version of a modern building which is to be put up at the site of Kolizej, the dilapidated building in the centre of Ljubljana, was presented at Ljubljana City Hall on Wednesday. The building, which will also be home to a new opera house, is expected to be completed by 2012. More »
A bust of Azerbaijani national hero Mehti Huseynzadeh - Mihajlo, who fell in a World War II battle in the village of Vitovlje, was unveiled on Thursday in Sempas in western Slovenia. "Mihajlo fought against Fascism, so he is also a Slovenian hero", Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Elchin Efendiyev said at the ceremony. More »
The 18th Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe), the biggest event of its kind in Slovenia, will feature over 100 films from around the globe between 7 to 21 November. The festival will open with the independent US production "The Darjeeling Limited" by Wes Anderson. More »
Slovenian Ambassador to the US Samuel Zbogar has completed the latest in a series of marathons as part of his fund raising campaign for the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF). Zbogar has raised over US$ 65,000 for six Bosnian mine victims. More »
Ukrainian Olexander Sitkovsky and Tatyana Filonyuk took victories in the Ljubljana Marathon on Sunday. Sitkovsky set a new course record of 2:12.49 in the pouring rain to clinch the men's title, whereas Filonyuk held off Slovenian champion Helena Javornik to take victory in the women's race in a time of 2:34.58. More »
Slovenia's Mitja Petkovsek topped the parallel bars competition at the gymnastics World Cup meet in Stuttgart on Saturday. Petkovsek, who took the World Champion title in Stuttgart two months ago, beat today world championship bronze medalist Anton Fokin of Uzbekistan and Slovakia's Samuel Piasecky. More »
An independent group of Schengen evaluators established that all candidates for entry into the Schengen no-border zone fulfiled all the required criteria, Interior Minister Dragutin Mate said on Friday, coming out of a meeting of EU interior ministers in Prague. "The door to the final decision is now open," said the minister. More »
Calendar of events for 30 October - 4 November More »
Slovenia News 23 October 2007
Editorial
Slovene electors voted on Sunday for one of the seven candidates bidding to succeed the incumbent Janez Drnovsek, whose five-year term ends this year. This first round didn't actually give Slovenia a new president, since no canditates could reach the 50% needed for an outright win. Veteran Slovenian politician Lojze Peterle, who got 28.54%, looks a sure run-off contender since it is as yet unclear who will be his rival due to an extremely close finish by former senior UN diplomat Danilo Tuerk and ex-central bank governor Mitja Gaspari. The latest unofficial results give Tuerk 24.52%, ahead of 24.15% for Gaspari for second place, even if some thousands of ballots from abroad still need to be counted in the coming days, and the gap between Tuerk and Gaspari is less than 4,000 votes. The final official results are not expected to be released until after 29 October at noon, the deadline for votes that come in by mail from abroad.
The first round of the presidential poll in Slovenia has raised more new questions than it answered, with a near three-way tie at the top auguring a politically-charged three weeks in Slovenia ahead of the run-off. Veteran Slovenian politician Lojze Peterle was the victor with 28.54%, well short of the 50% needed for an outright win and below what the polls had forecast for him, as two left-leaning candidates fought it out for second place. More »
The governments of Slovenia and Hungary held their first working meeting together on Wednesday in what the two prime ministers labelled as a confirmation of good bilateral relations and a boost for future cooperation between the two nations. Both Janez Jansa and Ferenc Gyurcsany also expressed confidence about the future of the two minorities living along the border. More »
International issues, in particular the Western Balkans and environmental issues, topped the agenda of talks on Tuesday between Prime Minister Janez Jansa and his Norwegian counterpart Jens Stoltenberg. "Norway is a country of best practices for Slovenia," in particular as regards the environment, Jansa told the press after the meeting. More »
Parliament Speaker France Cukjati received on Wednesday President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Rene van der Linden, who presented the future priorities of the assembly, in particular the promotion human rights, rule of law and democracy. More »
European social parters convened a tripartite social summit in Lisbon on Thursday to carry out the first joint analysis of key challenges of the European labour markets. Partners agreed on principles of flexicurity which will also include the "specific features of EU countries", Minister of Labour, the Family and Social Affairs Marjeta Cotman told the press. More »
Chief-of-Staff of the Macedonian Armed Forces, Lt-Gen Albin Gutman, met on Wednesday his Macedonian counterpart, Lt-Gen Miroslav Stojanovski for talks on military cooperation. More »
Italian Defence Minister Arturo Mario Luigi Parisi pledged Italy's full support for when Slovenia holds the EU's presidency in the first half of 2008 as met his counterpart Karl Erjavec in Ljubljana on Friday. More »
Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk has assessed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has underestimated Slovenia's economic growth in its projections. Slovenia's growth will top 5.4% this year and will definitely also exceed the IMF's projections for next year, Bajuk said on the margins of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington. More »
Home appliance maker Gorenje opened a new storage and assembly facility in its kitchen furniture manufacturing centre in Maribor on Thursday. The new plant stretches over 4,000 square metres and is worth EUR 2m. More »
Prime Minister Janez Jansa announced on Friday that Slovenia's EU presidency in the first half of 2008 would focus on the ratification process for the new EU treaty, which was agreed by EU leaders early on Friday morning. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel presented preparations for an EU - Latin America and the Caribbean summit to the participants of a conference on relations between Italy and Latin America, which opened in Rome on Tuesday. More »
The Government Office for Communication has established an e-mail account for journalists who need information about Slovenia's upcoming EU presidency. More »
The damage to the Franja WWII partisan hospital caused by the 18 September torrential waters has been estimated at EUR 3.47m, STA has learned from its sources. The Culture Ministry, which is tasked with the reconstruction of the hospital, confirmed the figure later on Tuesday and said the plan for the reconstruction should be ready by spring 2008. More »
An exhibition that offers an insight into stages of Macrolab (1997-2007), a ten-year project in which Slovenian artist Marko Peljhan explores the possibilities of new technologies, is to open at the European Commission's headquarters in Brussels later on Wednesday. More »
The Charles Nodier French Institute in Ljubljana, the oldest foreign institution of its kind in Slovenia, has marked 40 years of its presence in Slovenia. More »
Slovenian author Drago Jancar, who received the Jean Amery 2007 book prize for his German-language collection of essays "Brioni" at the Frankfurt Book Fair last week, said on Thursday he was happy and proud to have received a prize bearing Amery's name. More »
The International Committee for Fair Play will award Slovenian swimmer Emil Tahirovic and his coach Roni Pikec with the "Act of Fair Play" award at the international level at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 7 December. More »
Prime Minister Janez Jansa announced on Friday that Slovenia's EU presidency in the first half of 2008 would focus on the ratification process for the new EU treaty, which was agreed by EU leaders early on Friday morning. More »
At 12 October extraordinary session PM Janez Jansa presented to the National Assembly the draft position of the Republic of Slovenia on the Draft Treaty amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community. According to the PM, it is significant for Slovenia that the draft includes most of the text of the failed Constitutional Treaty and provisions that Slovenia considers vital. At the 29th extraordinary session of the National Assembly Jansa also presented together with Finance Minister Bajuk the supplementary budget for 2008 and the 2009 budget bill. The PM said the budget for the next two years is economical and development-oriented, and it will enable Slovenia to reduce the lag behind the EU's most developed members even more rapidly.
The Strategic Council for Foreign Policy conducted on Tuesday a debate on the impact of climate change on international security at which participants agreed that climate change was inseparably linked with international security and becoming an important foreign policy issue. More »
The Foreign Ministry joined on Wednesday Portugal's EU presidency in its call for the abolition of death penalty for all criminal acts and in all circumstances, marking World Day Against the Death Penalty. More »
Interior Minister Dragutin Mate and his French counterpart Michele Alliot-Marie signed an agreement on cooperation in security in Paris on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said in a press release. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel received in Ljubljana on Monday Polish Culture Minister Kazimierz Michal Ujazdowski for talks on bilateral relations. The officials agreed that relations between the countries were good, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release. More »
At today's 29th extraordinary session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, PM Janez Jansa presented deputies with the Budget Memorandum for 2008 and 2009, a draft budget amendment for 2008, and a draft budget for 2009. He also presented the draft position of the Republic of Slovenia on the Draft Treaty amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community. More »
The Justice Ministry presented and opened for public debate on Friday changes to the penal code which introduce life imprisonment for criminal acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The code is drafted in a bid to bring Slovenian legislation in line with the Roma Statute of the International Criminal Court. More »
Prime Minister Janez Jansa, attended today the Slovenian Economic Summit – a conference which brought together over 400 of Slovenia's most prominent economists and managers to discuss the key issues of Slovenia's economic development. They agreed that the economy is in good shape, but needs to remain sustainable. More »
Slovenian telco Telekom Slovenije signed on Monday a contract on the acquisition of a 75% stake in Albanian Online Service Provider (AOL SP), a Tirana-based private company. The deal gives Telekom access to the developing Albanian telecommunication market, the company said at a press conference in Ljubljana. More »
Economy minister Andrej Vizjak met his Polish counterpart Piotr Grzegorz Wozniak for a working visit in Ljubljana on Monday. The ministers agreed that economic cooperation between the two countries was good, but could be further improved in the future. More »
Under pressure from workers who earn their income in Austria but are formally residents of Slovenia, the government on Thursday decided to change taxation for people on temporary or permanent work in Austria. More »
The European Parliament endorsed on Thursday a proposal for the redistribution of parliamentary seats after the 2009 elections under which Slovenia will get one more seat. Slovenian MEP Mihael Brejc (EPP/SDS) said that the decision was not final, but Slovenia's extra seat was not questionable. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel met on Friday a delegation of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs led by its vice-president Libor Roucek for talks on the priorities of Slovenia's EU presidency in 2008. The meeting focused on Western Balkans' European future, in particular Serbia's accession to the EU and the future status of Kosovo. More »
EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday that the EU must enhance its response to disasters such as this year's fire in Greece and the severe storm in Slovenia. "We told the European Commission to draft a plan of response to natural disasters," Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said on the margins of the General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting. More »
Development Minister Ziga Turk presented Slovenia's priorities in energy for its upcoming spell as EU president at a conference on energy security in Lithuania's Vilnius on Thursday. "Energy security and sustainable treatment of the environment are two sides of the same coin," he said. More »
A study on the development of the fifth pan-European transport route shows that the improvement of the railway infrastructure on the route know as the fifth corridor would bring many advantages to Slovenia and two Italian regions, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Slavia Veneta. More »
The exhibition "United in Victory", which was first put on at Ljubljana Castle, on Thursday reopened at the National Museum of Contemporary History as a part of museum's permanent collection. More »
The 42nd annual Borstnik Meeting, Slovenia's largest theatre festival, will open in Maribor late on Friday with the play "Cabaret" performed by Mestno Gledalisce Ljubljansko outfit from Ljubljana. More »
A documentary about the children of victims of post-WWII killings has won the award for best film at the 10th Festival of Slovenian Film, while most other major awards, including the audience's, will go to a novel-based feature depicting a love story in a small town. More »
Slovenian musician Gianni Rijavec, the founder of the White Dove international peace foundation, was granted an audience by Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday and presented him a china lantern with a flame of love and peace. More »
Transplant, an association of patients with transplanted organs, highlighted the problems this field of medicine is facing in Slovenia at a press conference in Ljubljana on Thursday to mark the European and world days of organ donation and transplantation. More »
The 7th regional ministerial conference on illegal migration, organised crime, corruption and terrorism featured 13 delegations of justice and interior ministries from EU countries, Western Balkans as well as representatives of EU and international institutions. The event has been also attended by European Justice, Freedom and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini, who stressed that the EU and Western Balkan countries share a common interest in cooperation, that will contribute to better security for everyone, and a freer flow of people and goods.
Defence Minister Karl Erjavec and his German counterpart Franz Josef Jung told the press in Ljubljana on Friday that cooperation between the two countries in defence was very good and would continue to develop during Slovenia's stint at the helm of the EU in the first half of 2008. More »
The Council of Slovenian Organisations (SSO) and the Italian Union held a meeting in Koper on Friday, with representatives of the two minority organisations describing the get-together, the first of this kind, as extremely important for the minorities on both sides. More »
The Mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Jankovic met Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky on Friday and Vienna Mayor Michael Haeupl on Monday. Ljubljana will extend the cooperation with both European capitals. More »
Dutch Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima met their host, President Janez Drnovsek, at Brdo Mansion at the outset of their three-day official visit to Slovenia on Tuesday, touching on EU issues and establishing that the two countries had friendly and well-structured relations. More »
The Economy Ministry has drafted a white paper on trade and investment which contains the basics of the EU common trade policy and Slovenia's viewpoints on certain measures of the policy. "The aim of the paper is to motivate Slovenian business to participate in the shaping of viewpoints that represent its interests," Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak told the press on Wednesday. More »
"Education at a Glance 2007", a survey of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), shows that Slovenia has an above-average educational environment, in particular in terms of investment per student and spending on education as a share of GDP, Education Minister Milan Zver told the press on Wednesday. More »
A study of transparency in the distribution of farm subsidies has ranked Slovenia second among EU members, the Agriculture, Forestry and Food Ministry said on Wednesday. Sweden is the only country ahead of Slovenia and Denmark, which share the second place in the study dubbed Farmsubsidy.org. More »
Addressing on Friday participants of a conference of Slovenian scientists and businesspeople from around the world, Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk said that they were of key importance to Slovenia's prosperity. More »
The European Commission on Tuesday responded to a letter in which Prime Minister Janez Jansa proposed an overhaul of the Thessaloniki Agenda, saying it appreciated the desire of the Slovenian presidency to put strong emphasis on the Western Balkan, but the details of how the Commission would cooperate with the Slovenian presidency on the issue must still be determined. More »
Justice and interior affairs ministers of the EU Troika and Western Balkan countries agreed at Friday's ministerial in Brdo pri Kranju that cross-border crime can only be tackled in cooperation. "We are ready to work closely with countries of the EU and Western Balkans," Portuguese Interior Minister Rui Pereira told the press. More »
European Affairs State Secretary Janez Lenarcic received in Ljubljana on Monday Dutch Minister of European Affairs Frans Timmermans for talks on topical EU issues, primarily the EU reform treaty. Timmermans also met Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel for talks on Slovenia's spell as EU president in the first half of 2008, according to the Government European Affairs Office. More »
Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Mojca Kucler Dolinar told a conference of EU ministers on the development of European research and technology policies in Lisbon on Monday that Slovenia would draw up during its EU presidency a new development strategy, the ministry said a press release. More »
Port operator Luka Koper is ready to extend the first terminal at Slovenia's sole maritime port in Koper. The EUR 50m project will extend the terminal by around a third allowing the port to increase container transshipment. More »
The government on Thursday confirmed an agreement to be signed between rail company Holding Slovenske zeleznice and Hungarian company Trigranit to jointly fund a modern centre at the site of the Ljubljana central railway and bus stations with a passenger terminal. More »
The heads of the neighbouring ports of Koper and Trieste met in Koper on Monday to discuss cooperation. Speaking ahead of the meeting, Luka Koper chairman Robert Casar and Trieste Port Authority head Claudio Boniciolli explained that navigational safety, joint bids for EU funds and ties in other fields were the order of the day. More »
The 10th Festival of Slovenian Film is to be officially opened on Monday evening. The week-long homage to Slovenian film will feature a total of 38 films of various lengths and genres and will for the first time showcase foreign productions. More »
The town of Kobarid will host this weekend a symposium of historians in what is yet another event marking the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the battles on the Isonzo Front on the Slovenian western border. The battles ended in November 1917 with the co-called "Miracle near Kobarid", when the Austro-Hungarian and German forces defeated Italian soldiers in their only offensive on this front. More »
A compilation entitled "Pesmi s 'prostosti'" (Poems from "Freedom"), containing some 400 poems by Vitomil Zupan (1914 - 1987), a Slovenian poet, fiction writer, playwright and essayist, was published on Wednesday by his friend Ifigenija Simonovic. More »
Slovenia's main priority will the prevention and reduction of cancer, according to the head of the Health Protection Directorate Marija Seljak, who presented Slovenia's plans in the area of health for its upcoming EU presidency at the 10th European Health Forum held in Austria's Bad Hofgastein on Friday. More »
Within the framework of preparations for the presidency of the EU, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Jansa, spoke at the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly. In his speech he stressed that Slovenia would endorse a common European approach in the UN and other multilateral forums. The priorities of Slovenia's Presidency will include environmental issues, the enlargement of the EU in the Western Balkans, intercultural dialogue, human rights, and maintaining peace and security.
On his final day at the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, met the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon.
Prime Minister Janez Jansa highlighted Slovenia's priorities for its term as EU president in the first half of 2008 in his address to the UN General Assembly late on Thursday, pinpointing combat against climate change, advocacy of human rights, progress in the Western Balkans, UN reform and intercultural dialogue. More »
On his final day at the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Jansa, met the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon. They mainly discussed the priorities of Slovenia's Presidency of the Council of the EU, and issues related to the Western Balkans. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel will on Friday open a renovated building that will host the Slovenian Embassy and the ambassador's residence. The three-floor building in Washington's diplomatic quarters was constructed in the 1960s and used to host the Yugoslav embassy. Slovenia has been allotted it under a succession agreement between former Yugoslav countries. More »
Slovenia opened on Monday a representation office in Ramallah that will serve to build dialogue between Slovenia and the Palestinian authorities. More »
President of the Czech Senate Premysl Sobotka met his Slovenian counterpart Janez Susnik in Ljubljana on Monday. After the meeting, Susnik underlined the importance of relations between the countries, not only in the field of legislation, but also in economy, culture, science, security and cooperation in Europe and the Western Balkans. More »
At today's 31st regular session the National Assembly approved Ms Mojca Kucler Dolinar as the new Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology. More »
Slovenian power companies have begun a campaign to increase awareness about energy efficiency at home. As part of the campaign, the companies are to give one energy-saving light bulb to each household in the country. More »
The Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) signed in Ljubljana on Tuesday an agreement on cooperation with the Bucharest Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The move is aimed at boosting cooperation between Slovenia and Romania and creating business opportunities for the members of both chambers, GZS said in a press release. More »
Slovenia has placed 55th in a Doing Business survey published by the World Bank on Wednesday. The country has managed to gain five spots from last year among the 178 countries where the survey measured the ease of doing business. More »
The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed on Thursday two loans for the construction of Slovenian power plants - a EUR 350m deal for the construction of the sixth generator at the Sostanj coal-fired plant and an EUR 13m loan for the construction of the Avce pumped-storage hydro plant. More »
The EU justice ministers focused on plans for greater e-justice tools as they held an informal meeting in Lisbon on Monday. One of the main topics was the electronic exchange of information in justice in the EU. More »
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has pointed out that when promoting Serbia's EU prospects, Prime Minister Janez Jansa made it very clear that the country's full cooperation with the Hague court was a condition for its progress on the way to the EU. More »
The Centre for Information Service, Co-operation and Development of NGOs (CNVOS) and the Government Communication Office (UKOM) signed an agreement which defines the communication between the two offices before and during Slovenia's stint at the helm of the EU. More »
The European Investment Bank (EIB) on Thursday endorsed an increase of funds for projects aimed at more efficient and sustainable energy use. EIB chair Philippe Maystadt said at a two-day forum in Ljubljana that the EIB would redraft the policy on regulation of transport. More »
Importance of cooperation for security in Southeastern Europe and the role of lawmakers in this topped the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which concluded in Portoroz on Sunday. More »
The damage caused by torrential waters last Tuesday at the Franja WWII partisan hospital near Cerkno (NW) is not yet known, Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti told a press conference on Wednesday. More »
The traditional Forma viva Portoroz sculptural symposium started on Saturday near the coastal town of Portoroz. The only such event in Central Europe is featuring acclaimed sculptors from around the world. More »
The Economy Ministry will earmark EUR 23.2m for ten projects selected at a tender for EU regional development funds aimed at co-funding the construction of tourist infrastructure. The funds will go to six projects for the expansion of accommodation facilities, two projects for the enlargement of ski resorts and two projects for the construction of swimming pools. More »
Maribor University Hospital opened on Monday a 10,500 sq meter facility hosting departments of ophthalmology, maxillo-facial surgery and otorhinolaryngology. The facility costs around EUR 8m, while the new equipment is worth EUR 7m, hospital director Gregor Pivec told the press. More »
Interior Minister Dragutin Mate said he sensed "inclination to (Schengen) expansion" as he took part in a meeting of EU interior ministers in Lisbon on Monday. He added that nobody expected troubles ahead of the planned expansion. More »